Research

Research Project on What Can Be Done to Enhance Levi Strauss & Co’s Positioning in the Clothing Industry  

Select Summer Scholars (S4) Program

Supervisor: Dr. Donald Lombardi 

Summer 2023

In the summer of 2023, I had the honor of working under the supervision of Dr. Donald Lombardi, who is a professor at the School of Business at Stevens Institute of Technology, to investigate the tactics and operations of Levi Strauss & Co (LS&Co). For this highly selective research internship program, I was one of the twenty scholars chosen from a pool of over 400 applicants and received a stipend at the completion of the program.

By assuming the role of “CEO” for this case study, I conducted a comprehensive organizational analysis which took the form of a SWOT analysis; an examination of LS&Co’s leadership communication by using Dr. Lombardi’s “Communological Dyad”; an assessment of LS&Co’s team action through Dr. Lombardi’s “Performance Matrix,” “Quan-Com System,” and “PACT System”; and an investigation of Levi Strauss’ pre-existing Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) initiatives as well as what can be done to strengthen them.

The SWOT Analysis, which constituted the first two modules of the program, served as a starting point for our research journey. As I researched LS&Co’s most daring competitors and extensively browsed LS&Co’s own websites and benchmarking reports, I created a list of its most notable strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

After gaining a profound understanding of LS&Co, I was prepared to explore the practical applications of Dr. Lombardi’s “Manual of Healthcare Leadership,” which was one of the primary sources I consulted in order to execute this project. 

By the third module, I had delved into the ins and outs of LS&Co. By synthesizing what I learned about the “Communological Dyad,” a term coined by Dr. Lombardi himself, I vibrantly highlighted LS&Co’s idyllic communication strategies that could – and should – be employed to build mutual trust between LS&Co executives and a diverse range of stakeholders, ranging from suppliers to customers.

After identifying the necessary communication skills for the LS&Co team, I was able to use Dr. Lombardi’s manual to paint a picture of a high-caliber worker who represents LS&Co’s core values unconditionally as I worked through the fourth module. This time, I worked with Dr. Lombardi’s Quantitative Communological Organizational Profile System (“Quan-Com System”), which is an amalgam of attitude orientation, people skills, managerial aptitude, and team orientation. All of these elements intersect with those of the PACT system to tell a story about a group of superstars, who are incredibly committed to dedicating all their powers – spiritual, mental, and physical – in the interest of helping fellow human beings through the products and services they offer.

In accordance with the trend of assessing LS&Co’s business decisions pertaining to the treatment of stakeholders, the fifth module prompted me to apply the principles of Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) to my case study. As I continued to research LS&Co’s long track record of protecting its workers, I decided that the principles of ESG could be applied to its Worker Well-Being Initiative. My proposed addendum to the initiative would encompass more overt protections for workers who identify as women. The addendum would encompass the following:

• Family-Friendly Policies: By granting flexibility to workers in terms of hours in addition to creating on-site childcare facilities, LS&Co can facilitate workers’ work-life balance. 
• Audits: By having members of the executive team to audit factories on a regular basis, LS&Co can keep close tabs on our workers’ well-being despite the borders. 
• Health Initiatives: By ensuring women's access to healthcare facilities, such as reproductive care, LS&Co can cultivate a safe, empathetic environment for everyone. 
• Educational Attainment: LS&Co should strive to create opportunities for – and subsidize – low-cost higher-education for women workers.

By applying Dr. Lombardi’s “Need, Logic, Benefit” (NLB) framework to this proposition, I was able to underscore the exigency behind this overdue initiative. My research ultimately led me to the fact that ​​if employers collectively work to close the gender gap in the workforce by 2025, “we would add $28 trillion to the global economy.***” This could ultimately allow cities across the globe to implement the climate plans that we are seeking to fund in the first place. By mobilizing our resources to support women, we can expect to see a domino effect and, therefore, the cultivation of a better world for all.

The more I read into LS&Co and the clothing industry as a whole, the more I realized that the prioritization of people and the environment is essential to the growth of any company. I carried this impetus with me to the sixth and final module of the program, wherein I was tasked with putting all the pieces together. In my final research presentation/capstone project, I used Dr. Lombardi’s P-5 System – product, perception, process, people, and place – to bridge the gap between all of my aforementioned observations. As I pondered LS&Co’s associative dynamics and product placement for the last time, I crafted a comprehensive presentation that underscores the unique value of LS&Co, which is manifested by its commitment to empathy, integrity, and courage.

Research Project on AI and Its Role in Addressing Discrimination Towards Women of Color in Engineering Education

Department of Engineering Education

Supervisor: Dr. Monica Cox

Summer 2023

In the summer of 2023, I had the honor of working under the supervision of Dr. Monica Cox, who is a Distinguished Professor in the College of Engineering at the Ohio State University, to investigate how the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and the persistent institutions of racism and sexism in the United States amalgamate to create a dire situation for women of color – particularly those pursuing careers in engineering education. By understanding the AI biases that exist today, we were able to discuss how AI can be reformed to promote higher retention rates and reflect an authentic shift towards diversity at the nexus of race and gender in educational institutions across the country.

The data collected for The Engineering Deans' Gender Equity (EDGE) Initiative at the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) served as a starting point for our research journey. Upon being taught how to navigate the quantitative data available on ASEE’s website by Dr. Cox, I was able to investigate the representation – or lack thereof – of women of color (WOC) in engineering. This exploration led me to question the methods used to cull such data. As I began to ponder low retention as a potential explanation for the drop in WOC faculty, I found several sources that qualitatively corroborated the presence of racial prejudice within institutions nationwide that ultimately culminated in disproportionately low retention rates for WOC, especially Black women.

While working alongside Dr. Cox, I was introduced to Google Scholar and learned to synthesize my findings by creating an annotated bibliography. The deeper I delved into the research, the more I realized that current AI systems’ commitment to “parity” or equality are at odds with the need for distributive justice. The most meaningful information was found not in news publications, but in the articles I located on Google Scholar. It is deeply saddening to know that the ethical implications of AI as well as the structural barriers faced by WOC in the realm of engineering education are often kicked to the curb and seldom addressed in mainstream media; thankfully, however, with Dr. Cox’s guidance, I found a wealth of peer-reviewed articles pertaining to WOC in STEM as well as the racial and gender-based biases encoded in AI systems.

I found each and every single meeting with Dr. Cox to be incredibly insightful, for I am now more seasoned in terms of using search engine tools to find a diversified set of papers that can, in turn, be used to build a literature review. By working with Dr. Cox, I have been able to contextualize the crucial role intersectional feminism plays in the future of both engineering education and artificial intelligence. I am incredibly grateful for the time we have spent collaborating on this project and would like to extend my greatest gratitude to both Dr. Cox and The Ohio State University for this unique opportunity.

Jul 2021 - Present

Initiated and Managed by: Lara Cakir

The Slimes Helping Minds Project helps raise funds to address mental health problems and break the stigma.

The project aims to:

• Introduce individuals to a stressball-like calming agent at times of stress.
• Channel capital gains received from slime sales to Bring Change to Mind, which is a nonprofit organization that strives to end the stigma and discrimination surrounding mental illness.

The Harvard Shop - Competitive Analysis & Pricing Strategy Case

Supervisor: Ariel Wang

Summer 2022

The Harvard Shop is a retail store specializing in Harvard gear, ranging from basics popular with tourists to higher end products popular with students. The Harvard Shop's primary competitor is The Coop, a large combination bookstore/Harvard gear store owned by Barnes & Noble. In this presentation, my partners and I sought to help The Harvard Shop understand their unique value proposition and strategic advantages to effectively compete against The Coop. I performed a SWOT Analysis and created a perceptual map in order to support my group's findings.

Cocoa Pops

Summer 2022

The Problem:

• Each year, 1/3 of all food produced - which translates to 1.3 billion tons worth $1 trillion - rots or spoils due to unsustainable transportation and harvesting practices.
• Cow's milk is far more detrimental to the environment than plant-based alternatives. It emits three times as many greenhouse gases, uses ten times as much land, and creates high levels of eutrophication, thereby disrupting animals' well-being.
• The food sector accounts for 30% of energy consumption and 22% of greenhouse gas emissions.
• Should the global population reach 9.6 billion by 2050, the equivalent of three planets could be required to provide the natural resources needed to sustain current lifestyles.
• Sugar mills produce wastewater, emissions, and solid waste that adversely affect the environment.

The Opportunity:

Viable solutions to the aforementioned problems are scarce. Additionally, most healthy snacks are targeted towards adults, suggesting that sweet, tasty, and fun snacks for children cannot be sustainably sourced. The dearth of appealing options engenders an opportunity to create healthy, sustainable snacks that are kid-friendly.

The Solution:

Dried apricot covered with cocoa coating!

The snack will resemble a cake pop but avoid the use of dairy products. The coating around the apricot will consist of cocoa oil instead of chocolate, and almond milk will replace cow's milk to lower the carbon footprint. The milk with the lowest greenhouse gas emissions overall is almond milk as it requires almond trees to pull carbon dioxide (CO2) out of the atmosphere as they grow. To make it sweet, real maple syrup will be used in lieu of sugar. The almond taste will bring out the flavor in the apricot, which will enhance the taste naturally without the need of added sugar or sweeteners. The use of recyclable paper-based packaging and recyclable paper-based sticks will decrease waste.

John P. Stevens High School, Economics Course

Supervisor: Michael Reilly

Mini Project

Spring 2022

A platformer game that takes players on a journey from elementary school to college and beyond-literally. 

John P. Stevens High School, Economics Course

Supervisor: Michael Reilly

Mini Project

Winter 2022

For my economics class, I created a storyboard cartoon as well as a stop motion. The goal was to create a Super Bowl commercial for a company of my choice. The story follows Tom Brady, who was able to succeed with the power of timing. The state-of-the-art technology of the Rolex watch is what allowed Tom Brady to become the legend he is. After all, timing is everything!